1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal recording and reproduction apparatus for heading and reproducing signals from a recording medium at a high speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A video cassette tape may have recorded on it content such as titles and abstracts and index information including heading information like the address of the start of recording (hour, minute, second, frame).
Signal recording and reproduction apparatuses for video cassette tapes and the like (hereinafter referred to as VTRs) first read the index information on video cassette tapes loaded in them, then use that index information to record signals on or reproduce them from the video cassette tapes. The index information is updated each time the user operates the VTR for recording and reproduction.
There is known a VTR which records the index information at a predetermined area of the video cassette tape, such as its start or end.
In another known conventional VTR, the index information is recorded on a piece of magnetic tape attached to the outside of the video cassette tape especially for recording the index information.
When a video cassette tape which has been recorded or reproduced halfway is loaded in the former conventional VTR, however, and it is attempted to continue recording or reproduction from that intermediate position, the tape has to first be rewound or fast forwarded to the beginning or end of the tape where the index information is recorded so as to read the index information or else accurate heading is not possible. As a result, heading and reproduction from the intermediate position cannot be performed at a high speed.
In the latter conventional VTR, further, the magnetic tape on which the index information was recorded was not protected, so the magnetic tape would peel off or be scratched and the index information would therefore sometimes be lost.